Zillah Kara
blackbird claw, raven wing under the red sunlight Zillah is a teenage girl who lives in a council house with her stepmother and younger half-brother, attending school on dance scholarship, although she is home for the summer. Her biological mother died when she was young, and recently her father disappeared. She also happens to be one of the five "new" lines of witches (hers is the oldest, beginning in 1865, though she is chronologically second-youngest of the group) in The London Mysteries. long clothesline, two shirtsleeves waving as we go by Full name: Zillah (shadow) Gamze (enchantment) Kara (dark). Age/DOB: 16; March 25th, 1994. Zodiac: Aries (fiery, passionate, visionary, empathetic, called the "pioneer of the zodiac"); year of the Dog (idealistic, rebellious, protective, independent, loving). Profession: Student. Height/Weight: 5'7"/118 lbs. Hair/Skin/Eyes: Red-brown/fair/blue-green. Ethnicity/Nationality: 1/2 Romanichal, 1/4th Xoraxane, 1/4th Kurdish, born in Britain. Education: Attends The King's School, Canterbury, due to begin upper sixth form in fall. Languages: English, Turkish, Rromanes. Family: Merve, mother (deceased as of August 2nd, 1996, age 23, née Kurtoglu); Hezekiah (father, aged 60, missing as of May, 2009); Tryphena (stepmother, aged 37, née Loveridge); Sampson (younger half-brother, aged 11); Noah (paternal uncle, aged 51), Ocean (paternal aunt by marriage, aged 45, née Parker), Yessica (cousin, aged 25, now a Young), Robbie (cousin by marriage, aged 26), Liberty (second cousin, aged 6), Gertie (second cousin, aged 4), Nadia (second cousin, 8 months), Bran (cousin, aged 19), Lucia (cousin, aged 16), Logan (cousin, aged 12), Mavis (cousin, aged 12), Davina (paternal half-aunt, aged 35, now a Willis), Maxwell (paternal uncle by marriage, 39), Sabina (cousin, aged 18), Goliath (cousin by marriage, aged 25), Diamond (second cousin, aged 1), Devon (cousin, aged 13), Dotia (cousin, aged 10), Amberline (paternal half-uncle, aged 35), Martina (paternal aunt by marriage, aged 22, née Stratton), Elaine (cousin, aged 5), Vandlo (cousin, aged 2), Athalia (paternal grandmother, aged 75, née Prekas), Miza (paternal step-grandmother, aged 50, née Brazil), Hezekiah Sr (paternal grandfather, deceased as of May 20th, 1990, age 70). Aesthetics: Zillah is on the tallish side, though not so much it excludes her from her chosen hobby, and of a slim build, although she is still constantly fighting with her weight, as if on principle; she has long auburn hair that she wishes she could dye black, very large blue-green eyes set in a longish oval face with a pointed chin, a straight nose, and a slightly wide mouth with a correspondingly big grin, when she chooses to show it. She's a pretty girl, if not shockingly so, and she is often told she will "grow into" her looks, which are presently a bit exaggeratedly gamine in a sixteen-year-old--as of right now she has a kind of soft, baby-faced look to her, which she contrasts with dark eye shadow and mascara, although that plus a little lipgloss and tinted moisturizer tends to be all she wears for make-up. She looks a few years older than she is- more, if she tries. Clothing: Her school uniform consists of a black jacket or red cardigan, a white blouse (preferably with a very high neck), a black pinstriped pencil or pleated skirt, an optional blue and white tie, stockings or socks that reach at least the knee, and loafers; sixth form students may also wear a rose brooch, if they choose. Most of her street clothing is pretty inexpensive (generally 15 pounds or less) - she likes boots and blue jeans, tiny camisoles with her favorite red hooded sweatshirt over the top. She's also something of a scarf aficionado, and has at least seven. Because she is relatively slender, she can get away with wearing things that are somewhat low-cut and not always entirely age-appropriate, and often does go that route, although in a relatively guileless way - thus far, only her schoolteachers and freezing weather can force her to dress conservatively. Her trusty winter jacket is a basic black trench coat, and she doesn't wear much jewelry, particularly not anything expensive, owing to a tendency to lose it. Perfume: Only on special occasions. Paco Rabanne "Calandre," made in 1969: Spicy, leafy oriental floral with an almost-innocent watercolor quality, possessing a guileless but noticeable sexuality, inchoate and curious. A little melancholy, a little playful, "like a Debussy piano piece that fully absorbs you while you're listening to it but floats away just as quickly." Notes include leafy greens, aldehydes, bergamot, rose, lily of the valley, geranium, jasmine, orris, sandalwood, vetiver, musk, amber, oakmoss. 1 hundred years, hundred more, someday we may see a woman king history sword in hand, swing at some evil and bleed Girls like Zillah are considered a dime a dozen, by the more privileged: hailing, most of the time, from the "wrong side of the tracks," if not outright poverty, they are born into what is often a self-fulfilling prophecy of disappointment and low standards for their behavior, featuring bored promiscuity, casual drug use, and a lack of education. They're the girls people make self-righteously sneering "welfare" remarks about, and they know it, too. Just pretty enough to attract the wrong kind of boys (and sometimes none too kind to the right ones), and just bold enough to encourage them with her dress and behavior, most people tend to assume they've got her measure with a glance. They're not entirely wrong, because she is all of those things (and she has been something of a delinquent, undeniably so, but she's never gotten herself a record), but much of her behavior often read as even more inexplicable as she grew up. She's always seen things -- inexplicably known things, been able to do things. Doors slamming, ghosts walking the halls, and once or twice, an actual in-house explosion...these were all things that just happened. More so when her mother was alive (two high-spirited and somewhat volatile witches unaware of their natures in one household), but as Zillah grew up, she learned a little bit of control. Discipline is something she acquired out of necessity, but later it became a useful tool in school and her chosen hobbies. She initially began as one of those kids whose teachers bemoaned her lost potential, but somewhere around the age of eleven she twigged to the fact that puberty was going to be something of a death knell for her future, and the people around her couldn't be relied on to help her. This is a terrible way to be precocious. This surprising scholastic aptitude has not, however, stopped her from being a constant source of exasperation to her family, which has its own problems. They're an old-world clan in 2010, with some of those yesteryear customs not quite blending with the new; prior to his disappearance, for example, Zillah's father meant well, but had not quite adapted to the idea that the women in his family were not subject to his rule. Particularly his daughter, who rebelled against everything he said mostly just because he'd said it. black horsefly, lemonade, jar on the red ant hill boys garden worm, cigarette ash on the window sill girls black hoof mare, broken leg, eye on the shotgun shell powers age old dog, hornet nest built in the big church bell appearance hundred years, hundred more, someday we may see a woman king playlist and references Rhodopis (hetaera, original Cinderella myth). bloodshot eye, thumb down and starting to weep Zillah Kara is a fictional character that I made up; her played-by, Asli Tandogan, belongs to herself. No profit, etc. Category:Characters Category:Living Category:The London Mysteries